From Bali to Sumatra ~~~ By Alia

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Hi everyone! Well, as you can see, we've had no time in the last month (was it that long??) to write anything on the blog, and we have gone through every place in Indonisia that we were planning to. Sadly, today is our last day in the country and even I'm overwhelmed by how time flies! So we are now in Sumatra, an island that is described by tourists as the "adventure island".

Before Sumatra though, and right after Ubud we were in Lombok (another island) in the small ghost town like city, Senggigi. Since it was Jamil's birthday (and I'm glad it was!) he got to pick the hotel for one night and the next day we would move to a cheaper hotel. Of course, Jamil chose the fanciest and most luxurious (not to mention expensive) resort he could find. We all were thrilled (except for Dad who had to fork out the big bucks to stay there!). The resort was humungous, and it had 4 restaurants, a fairly big swimming pool, a badminton court, a tennis court, and an ocean that was just next door. That one day, as mom would call it, was our day to do nothing and just relax. We swam a lot, played tennis once and spent hours trying to get around, since it was so easy to get lost! The next morning we moved to a simpler hotel ( it was nice to see Dad smiling again) and we had more time to do things around Sengggigi beach. The highlight of our stay in Lombok ( if you want to call it that) was riding motorcycles on one very unlucky day. We were just on our way back to the bungalow, when Jamil wanted to stop to take a picture of the rainforest for Mrs. Jette, his teacher. I was on the back of Dad's bike. He had stopped and gotten off, while I was stilll on the bike. Before anyone knew it, there was the bike on the ground and the side of my leg burnt on two spots below my knee. Even though I was yelling in pain, I manged to get on the bike, while mom and dad rode me to a local hospital. They slowly and painfully cleaned it with something that was probably only meant to sting people and not to cure them (well that's what it felt like but it did eventually work). My brothers and I were driven back in a taxi while mom and dad took the bikes home. Boy did it look bad! It had antibiotic droplets falling down the side and the actual burn was a pink fleshy colour that looked like a slice of salmon, but none of us were hungry then. The nurses decided that I was not allowed to go in the water for three days and that meant no snorkeling for the first day on the Gilis. I'm telling you, I've got rotten luck!

Our next destination was the Gilis, three very small islands that were half an hour away from Lombok. We had to take a ferry to get there and with my leg it was diffuclt to get on and off the boat. We were going to the smallest Gili, Gili Air (pronouced eye-year).

The islands are known for there snorkeling, so I was pretty upset when I found out that I would miss a day of swimming. But we were on the Gili's for 4 days, long enough for me to get my fill of the clear blue water and all of the coral reef fish. The one day I couldn't go in the water, we chartered a glass bottom boat and drove way out into the ocean, finding a great place to snorkle. The boat had a big see-through panel so people like me who couldn't swim, could see all the beautiful fish in the ocean below. The rest of my family swam and I sat in the boat watching the fish and filling myself up with mentos.

On our second day, we rented bikes and cycled around the island. At dinner we ventured a little farther and ate at a small little restaurant, quickly becoming friends with the owners.

Day three was better, I finally got to snorkel so we went to Air's small beach and had a great time. There were angel fish, clown fish and lots more but I admit to not knowing their names!

The fourth day was probably my favourite. We took the glass bottom boat out to another Gili, Gili Trawangan. Yes, we saw lots of fish but most excitingly we saw turtles! Lots and lots of turtles. We saw some diving to the bottom of the ocean, we saw some eating, and we managed to follow one, but it soon disappeared too. I was about 2 meters away from it. Very, very close. We took the boat to Trawangan beach and got a fantastic surprise when we noticed how swimming pool like the water was. It was the best beach I have ever seen, and we had so much fun swimming there, but we couldn't swim long, we had to get back to Gili Air.

That same day, we took the bikes again and we rode the other half of the island that we never got to. When we stopped for a drink, one of the restaurant owners we had made friends with, dropped by and had a chat with us. She noticed my leg and without hesitation asked me if I wanted a ride on her bike back to her restaurant, which was nearby our bungalow. Unexpectedly, she took me to her house, showed me around and introduced me to her family. By then I was pretty impressed by her kindness. A few minutes later she drove me back to the restaurant, and my family and I walked back to our bungalows.

The next morning, we had to take the ferry back to Lombok and from there take a big ferry back to Bali. We spent a night in Kuta, a large city in Bali. The day afer that, we took a plane to Sumatra. To tell the truth, we were all sad to leave Gili Air and wished we could stay longer.

As you know we're now in Medan for the second time in the past eight days. We've now just finished a road trip around Sumatra and are glad to be out of the car, we were all getting car sick by the end. First we took the car to Samosir Island, a small bit of land in the middle of the biggest volcanic lake (Lake Toba) in South East Asia. We stayed there for I think three nights in our cheapest hotel yet, at 7 dollars a night for one room. Our first day, we took motorcycles (mom insists on renting them almost every place) around the island stopping at an old musem that used to be a Sumatran village. Mom and Dad walked around while the three of us kids bursted their eardrums playing the musical instruments in the house (the Sumatrans always kept drums and bells in their house for entertainment). Day two we took an "all uphill" bike ride which just led us to dehydration. Our third day we swam in the humungous lake, diving off the dock and enjoying the view put before us. Then the next day we took the car to another town.

We drove about four hours to Berastagi, a small city surrounded by volcanoes. Not being able to find a cheap, decent hotel we finally gave up and stayed in a kid's paradise, let's just say it had its own amusement park! Here's what happend: We were searching (as always) for an outrageous amount of time looking for a hotel. We then saw a nice looking building and our driver insisted that it was a hotel. Dad got out first, telling the rest of us to stay in the car. He started talking to a man, and getting impatient, we got out of the car. Looking upset at the driver he told us that really, it was a church, not some home-stay. The man apologized and told us to wait there, he was going to help us find a hotel. He came back soon with drinks for all of us, and invited us in for...pancakes! Working quickly he gave us a voucher for a 50% discount at a 72 dollar hotel, an amazing gift. We talked for a while and then, stunned by our luck made our way to the fancy hotel.

Anyway, we came to Berastagi only to climb a volcano, as mom said. So the next morning we got up early and climbed a huge volcano. It was full of sulpher and smelled of rotten eggs. It was steaming in 5 different spots by the huge crater. Also, on the walk up to the volcano we saw countless butterflies, and well, I guess I have a way with animals, or insects for that matter but one beautiful blue one landed on me more than ten times! (I named him Smiley.) We ventured down the volcano where we met our driver, who took us back to our hotel. The next morning (again) we were off to the next place.

Our last destination in Sumatra was Bukit Lawang, the best place in all of Indonesia to see orangutans. We were there two nights and planning to take a jungle trek the next morning. So, we woke up, ate, and set off. It was quite a long walk, but was it worth it! Throughout the whole walk, we saw about ten orangutans! With great pictures in the camera , we finally treked back to our powerless bungalow, my head sore because one of the orangutans, Sandra, hit me on the head as if playing a game with me! Anyway, we made our way back and slept soundly, knowing we had to take the world's bumpiest road home, or as we called it, the "vomit route".

So now we're back in Medan, and this is how we spent our last night in Indonesia, on the internet.

That's all for now! by Alia

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Photos

Jamil's "Dream Come True" Hotel
Just a picture of the pool because none of us could think of a reason to take a picture of anything else.

Finally!
My first jump in the water since the motorbike burned my leg.

My idea of a cruise ship.
If you ever get a chance to do this, let me tell you from experience, it's so much fun!

Taking a break from motorbike riding.
Our version of historical fun in the Batak (Sumtran)Museum.

Jumping into humungous Lake Toba.
If you look closely, you can see some fish.

Smiley
He must have liked something on my finger because he stayed there for an awfully long time!

Well,,,maybe it was worth all that climbing!
Dad says you can boil an egg in the sulphur steam, but we forgot to bring one. It's true!

I was so tired that I didn't know I was sitting on a red ant infested branch.
We actually saw the orangutans swinging on these.

Sandra
Mom managed to get a picture before my "red cousin" whacked me on the head!